Flood Alert: Historic Flooding Sees In Paris After Heavy Rainfall

Thousands of people were forced to evacuate after a heavy rainfall has caused a deadly flooding in central and northeastern France this week. The Paris's most celebrated museums such as the Louvre and Orsay began evacuating their artworks from their galleries, which might be vulnerable to flooding.

The Louvre had practiced moving its art in case of Paris flooding https://t.co/lt4o7AhglF pic.twitter.com/GvLjIiPpbJ

— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) June 3, 2016

After days of heavy rainfall, the Seine River augmented to its highest level since 1982 on Friday. It rose to 18 feet. This caused flooding the lower embankments and closing several roads but there were no significant damages, according to Washington Post.

Paris's metro and major tourist attractions are closed due to flooding: https://t.co/uy5nfMIkwe pic.twitter.com/d72tgTug0g — Travel + Leisure (@TravelLeisure) June 4, 2016

The New York Times reports that a man on horseback was seized by floodwaters on Thursday. He was spotted dead in Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, which is 30 miles southeast of Paris. Meanwhile, in Germany, there were heavy rains too and killed nine people.

Paris is flooding like never before.https://t.co/EpVwbybN1P

— The WorldPost (@TheWorldPost) June 3, 2016

Louvre, the largest art museum in the world and the most visited in Europe started to relocate 250,000 artworks from the flood-risk areas. The world renowned painting, the Mona Lisa, is already exhibited on a higher floor.

Likewise, the French government made emergency plans to leave the nearby Elysee Palace, the seat of the French government, to the Chateau de Vincennes located outside the city. This will take effect when the water reaches 21.3 feet above its normal height.

It is expected that the Seine River will reach its summit approximately 21 feet, which is nearly 17 feet above its normal level, by Friday evening. The authorities said that it might gradually recede next week.